


Humanity Must Evolve

by eadreytheiptscray



Category: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Also inspired by Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Inspired by Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21518395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eadreytheiptscray/pseuds/eadreytheiptscray
Summary: Stacker Pentecost detonates the payload, but he doesn't die in the blast.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Humanity Must Evolve

_Perfection is a painful process._

White light. Searing pain. Was there a delay in detonation, or…? 

_We see ourselves in a foreseeable perfect world. But humanity must evolve before it destroys itself._

The pain vanished, and with it the dull aches of age and a deteriorating body. As expected when life reached its end—or had it?

After all, his heart was still beating.

_We will carve out all human weakness and replace it with mechanical perfection. And you will lead the way._

Stacker Pentecost opened his eyes.

* * *

Waking up was always disorienting. The dream world felt so real, and yet there was something so foreign about it. Dull colors, weary faces, an invisible weight settling over his shoulders. 

Here, in a world saturated by color, he felt alive. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

His handlers, for one, weren't human.

At first, he fought. They're colonists, he remembered someone saying about them. Exterminators. They were the enemy— _we're keeping you alive_ , they said.

Every day meant waking up stronger. But it also meant forgetting… who, exactly? The longer he stayed here, the less he remembered about the people who filled his dreams.

Some nights, he didn't dream at all.

* * *

_It's time for Phase One._

He stared at the doorway before him. One step would take him into the world he'd seen only in his dreams. What was left of his humanity wondered who was on the other side. Who would remember him.

_You have your mission: Eliminate the weak and anyone who'll get in our way._

The portal opened, exposing the dark, cold world beyond. He didn't move.

_We're building a perfect system._

Familiar faces, the ones he'd seen in his dreams, flickered before him.

_Your old friends? Turn them._

"Turn them?" His voice was hoarse; he cleared his throat. "I don't follow."

_We want them on our side—persuade them, threaten them._

Somehow, he knew that wouldn't be an option. "They won't—"

_We did not ask you. You show them the consequences of refusal. Or perhaps… we'll show them to you._

"Is that a threat?"

_Remember who you're relying on for survival._

Not life, he thought. Survival. His doubts of so many months (or had it been years?) were now validated. The sinister presence in his mind roared over them.

_What's it going to be? Join the evolution of man or die with the weak._

His own words, tucked away in a memory, drowned them out: So where would you rather die: here, or in a jaeger? 

Former Marshal Stacker Pentecost squared his shoulders.


End file.
